Typically, cookie batter or dough is placed on cookie pans or baking sheets with the use of an ordinary teaspoon. A baker uses the spoon to scoop and retain a portion of a batch of cookie dough. The dough portion is held over a baking sheet and pushed off the spoon with an index finger.
Cookie droppers are devices that replace spoons in the cookie-making process and eliminate the need for touching each dough portion with a finger. One such device includes two joined metal arms; one arm terminating in a flat spatula and the other in a ram. The dropper is held in one hand and is used to scoop a portion of dough onto the spatula. The dropper is then held over a baking sheet. As the user squeezes the dropper's two arms together, the ram passes over part of the spatula. The moving ram thus pushes the cookie dough off the spatula and onto the baking sheet.
Cookie droppers are usually made of stainless steel with the different elements being machined separately and assembled in stages. These metal cookie droppers, although functional, are constructed with folded parts that trap cookie dough. The trapped dough sticks to the dough portion on the spatula and hinders subsequent deposition of dough portions.
The dough trapped in the crevices of the metal folds eventually hardens. Hence, the folded metal features and other surface irregularities (such as the spot weld or rivets employed to hold the various metal elements together) make these droppers hard to clean. Moreover, the sharp edges created in stamping these droppers can scrape and cut the user during both cleaning and use.